By Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
How does Wendell Davis do it?
Look what he’s gotten himself into lately:
1. He soon will take a seat on the Clay County commission after a bruising election.
2. He soon will become president-elect of the Florida Association of Realtors, a seat he won … again, after a tough election.
Not to mention:
1. His day job as an executive with the area’s largest real estate company — he’s the regional vice president of Watson Realty’s Property Management Division and president of Watson Maintenance.
2. Family. Wife Jackie, three children, five grandchildren.
But, says the former high school and college football coach, juggling a basket of balls comes naturally to him.
“You have to be organized and be able to multi-task,” said Davis, who has been with Watson for 20 years. “Nowadays, there is so much connectivity with the Internet and cell phone. I have to be able to communicate without being there. I text message, email and use a cell phone, so I already multi-task and communicate with technology to do my daily job. And I have quality people around me that I can trust.”
The job is one thing. Elective office is very much another, much less having TWO.
He faced a big decision: run for both, run for neither or pick just one. He looked at the timing of each job and felt he could overcome conflicts.
He coached high school football at Orange Park High and moved to the college ranks at schools in North and South Carolina. In 1986, he determined that coaching football wasn’t for him and went into real estate.
“When you coach, you get used to a 100-hour work week on a regular basis,” he said. “So, to multitask is something you are accustomed to doing. Bill Watson (Watson Realty’s CEO) encourages us to be successful and to participate in things. I have the good fortune of having grown my job to a spot where I have good folks working with us.”
Davis used to run all 25 property management offices but now has delegated out the responsibility of those offices to district managers.
“Now I have five people reporting to me instead of 25,” he said. “We have grown to a size where we can have middle-level management.”
Years of experience as a football coach taught Davis a thing or two about managing people and functioning in the limelight.
“You must be fair and consistent with your players or they won’t play for you,” said Davis. “You have to treat people fairly and with respect. You have discipline with it, some accountability or they won’t respect you.
“In coaching, you operate from a fishbowl. You have parents and everyone criticizing what you are doing. So when you learn to operate in a fishbowl, you assume you are being watched all of the time and you are on your best behavior all the time.
“It sort of becomes your culture. If you treat people fairly, above board and with respect, you will most often get that in return.”
Now, he faces what will amount to three full-time jobs and, predictably, his Blackberry is always close by.
“You have to prioritize,” he said. “Delegating and working is one thing. That can be done. A lot of people do that. The conflicts are hard.
“The Clay County Commission meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, so you can calendar those meetings. The FAR has two big meetings that are scheduled for the next five years.
“Everything else is scheduled by appointment. Since I am used to having appointments I just pull my calendar out and don’t worry about a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. day. A 9-to-5 day doesn’t exist.”
Davis will be on the road quite a bit the next few months preparing for the upcoming year.
“Right now is a very hectic time,” he said. “The incoming president of FAR (Cynthia Shelton of Orlando) and I are putting together our committees, chairs and vice chairs for next year right now. It is very difficult to do all the things I have to do because we have the planning and start-up time.
“That’s the hardest part. Once you are in operation, everyone should do their jobs.”
Davis said planning is crucial to a smooth running year in office — the better you plan, the smoother the flow and the more consistency and stabilization.
“When you start and stop, that’s when you get more disruption and then that does take time and you cannot do two or three things at once,” said Davis. “You have to stop and handle the crisis.”
When he becomes president of FAR in 2010, his schedule will get a little more hectic — more traveling and personal appearances.
Davis served as FAR treasurer in 2007 and secretary in 2006. He ran for president-elect last year but lost to Shelton.
“A number of folks urged me to run again,” said Davis. “Because of the quality of leadership of FAR, it’s not uncommon to run two or three times for president before you are elected. Even Cathy Whatley (of Buck & Buck Realty) ran two times to become president of FAR. So, it’s not uncommon. I had already decided to run again when the Clay commission situation occurred.”
Davis has been active in politics for many years, helping other candidates get elected.
“I never thought I’d run on my own,” he said.
But, times change and a controversy around the incumbent — Christy Fitzgerald, who was accused of using county workers for her own benefit, led Davis to get involved.
He tried to find a viable candidate to run but couldn’t.
“So, finally it was down to this: I run or no one runs,” said Davis. “I’ve been hollered and fussed at a lot in college football coaching and in the rental management business, so I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”
Davis had served many years on citizen committees in the county.
“I saw it as a chance to give back to the community and I hope that I have learned something through the years that will be beneficial to the county,” he said.”
Davis won the Republican primary and became District 1 commissioner-elect when a write-in candidate withdrew. He soon will join the governing body of a county where petty politics and backroom dealings have been the rule, rather than the exception.
FAR isn’t without its politics, of course, but that’s now behind him.
Though Shelton, the incoming president is in commercial real estate, and Davis is in property management, he doesn’t see it as a problem as far as leading a primarily residential real estate association.
“You want a leader you can respect,” he said. “You want a leader who cares. You want someone who knows enough about your job to make it better. Whether you are doing residential, commercial or property management, existing homes or new construction the principles are all the same.
“You want someone who is well-rounded enough to understand the member’s needs and do you care and respect your members.”